MLB Player News

Mondesi (knee) participated in running activities and fielded grounders Tuesday, MLB.com reports.

The activity is what manager Alex Cora described as a "great day for him." The manager added that Mondesi's workload will become greater in the upcoming days. The infielder isn't trending toward being ready for Opening Day, but Mondesi is expected to be part of a rotation in the middle infield whenever he's ready to play.

Barrero retooled his swing over the offseason in an effort to cut down on his swings and misses, Charlie Goldsmith of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. "When guys make adjustments and they're at a point where it needs to show up in a game, spring training can be really big," Reds manager David Bell said. "You can prove it to yourself a little bit. That's what Jose's doing right now. He's starting to trust the adjustments he has made."

Barrero had an astounding 43.7 K% in 174 big-league plate appearances last season. While he's improved so far this spring, that improvement still has translated into a 31.3 K%. This is likely to be Barrero's last hurrah until the Reds' wave of shortstops is ready for the big club.

Ahmed went 1-for-3 in Monday's spring game against the Royals.

Ahmed made his Cactus League debut after missing a week due to forearm tightness. He struck out in his first two plate appearances before singling his third time through. His return to game action kicks off shortstop watch in camp. Ahmed, who turns 33 next week, and the 23-year-old Geraldo Perdomo will share the position, though it's unclear how the playing time will be divided.

Allen is not a lock to open the season as the Athletics' starting shortstop, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Allen entered camp as the clear favorite to be the primary shortstop and probably still is, but when asked over the weekend whether Allen was the team's starter at short, general manager David Forst said, "I don't know that we have anything penciled in like that." Aledmys Diaz has mostly played shortstop in camp and is an alternative to Allen to start there, although he's likely to bounce around to other infield spots. While he offers solid defense, Allen batted just .207/.256/.291 in 100 games for Oakland last season.

DeJong, who has been dealing with fatigue in his right arm, will be back at shortstop Tuesday for a Grapefruit League contest against the Tigers, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

DeJong has been limited to designated hitter as of late while dealing with the fatigue, but he's been cleared to return to the infield. The 29-year-old is attempting to win a utility role with St. Louis to begin the 2023 season with Tommy Edman expected to get most of the reps at shortstop this season.

Mondesi (knee) will undergo follow-up tests Monday, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.

The goal of the tests is simply to get a better idea as to how Mondesi's recovery from a torn left ACL is going. The infielder has been hitting and taking grounders lately, although not on an everyday basis. Mondesi is not expected to be ready for Opening Day, but we could find out more regarding his timetable following Monday's tests.

Lopez is projected to secure the final spot on the Blue Jays' bench for Opening Day, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Toronto already has plenty of versatility on the infield with Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio all but locked into roster spots, but Lopez would provide added flexibility. The 24-year-old has only 11 big-league plate appearances over the last two seasons, but he slashed .297/.378/.415 through 91 games with Triple-A Buffalo in 2022 while playing second base, shortstop, center field and left field, and he's stolen double-digit bases in each of the last four minor-league campaigns. Lopez isn't hurting his chances of breaking camp on the 26-man roster either, going 7-for-15 to begin his spring with a 2:2 BB:K.

Ahmed (forearm) is starting at shortstop and batting sixth Monday versus the Royals.

Ahmed will make his spring training debut Monday after experiencing some inflammation in his right forearm, forcing him to miss the first week-and-a-half of action. The 32-year-old only played in 17 games last season while dealing with injury, producing a .231 average with three homers, seven RBI and seven runs scored over 52 at-bats.

Velazquez is starting in center field for the Angels in Monday's Cactus League contest versus the Guardians, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Velazquez has played the outfield a decent amount in the minors, but his major-league experience is almost exclusively on the infield. However, the 28-year-old's best chance to be useful to the Angels is as a super utility player so he's going to see some action all over the field this spring.

Smith, who went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Sunday's 10-3 Cactus League loss to the Padres, is now hitting .353 (6-for-17) across seven Cactus League contests.

Smith has hit safely in three of the last four exhibitions, and he also notably got Cactus League play off to a rousing start with a two-hit, three-RBI day against the Diamondbacks on Feb. 25. On the other hand, he has a 0:8 BB:K so far this spring after posting a 27.8 percent strikeout rate in the majors in 2022, and a 30.0 percent rate at Triple-A. The 26-year-old struggled to a .180/.216/.302 slash line across 151 plate appearances at the big-league level last year, but he's put up impressive power/speed numbers at every minor-league stop and can potentially fill in at shortstop, third base, designated hitter and the corner outfield spots.